Bus ride

Salty tears roll down her cheeks.
She ain’t moving yet her lips are quivering.
She looked outside to watch the shadow
of her embattled lover fade into her memory.
Raindrops stained the bus windows and
blurred her vision.
But she could see the light from the lamp post
Repeatedly flickering like fireflies.

The voices and images in her head
cracked the melancholic silence.
A man whispered to her,
“It’s happening again.
We need a revolution.
I’m leaving. Don’t look for me.”

She held his rough, calloused hands.
Struggling to find the right words to say
She then heaved a deep bitter sigh and
Uttered these piercing words:
“If you leave, I’ll perish.”

As much as it invokes a chilling threat,
The man turned his back and shut the door.

She stared blankly at the flower carvings of the wooden door
while clutching a piece of bloodied paper closer to her heart.